If you've ever been around Frankfurt....there are a dozen interesting sections to the city. One of my favorite areas is the shopping district in the 'old-city' section of town....which leads you eventually to the Konstablerwache area (eastern slice of town). Around Christmas, this is a great part of town to walk around and get a feel for the city.
I should note....there's the Konstablerwache version one....which I knew from the 1970s, the 1980s and 1990s.....and there the newer Konstablerwache version (two), which is a drug-zone to some degree.
As you come to the end of the shopping district, and I have no idea how it transformed....but this square area of Konstablerwache has become a hang-out for druggies.
This comes up today because of a story from the regional network (HR).....and how the cops got called.
Some guy had a bad medical situation develop and the ambulance crew arrived. They needed to use a lot of care to bring this guy back to life. His 'associates' in the square area made a hassle for the ambulance crew to do their job, and the cops got called in.
Cops say the 19-year-old kid is alive....but his situation centered on the use of drugs and alcohol. They had to set up a barrier zone around the ambulance crew.....giving them a safe-zone....to save the kid.
This is one of the odd things when you look at the character of Frankfurt from the late 1970s to today. There are at least three different areas of town now where the drug-crowd hang out and the cops have allowed this to be accepted. Part of the problem is that there just aren't enough cops....but the other issue is that the city leadership accepts this and just looks the other way. The alternate deal is that you'd have to grab the drug-crowd, and force them into rehab....which they really don't want to accept, or you put them into a permanent facility (don't use the word jail) and just manage these people until they reach their next level in life.
The general public? They simply shake their heads. The older folks remember a different Frankfurt, and a simpler time.
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